The Contracultura: Alternative Arts and Emergent Social Movements under Military Rule in Brazil, 1964-1985

FAIN: FA-57197-13

Christopher Dunn
Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund, The (New Orleans, LA 70118-5698)

This project will contribute to an emerging body of scholarly literature that addresses diverse forms of cultural expression during period of military rule in Brazil (1964-85). I focus on what in Brazil is known as the contracultura, a complex set of ideas and practices about artistic creation, political action, and social transformation that emerged within the left-wing opposition. I will focus on connections between avantgarde art, experimental literature, popular culture, and new social movements of the 1970s. I analyze a wide variety of sources, including the work of visual artists, writers, filmmakers, and pop musicians, as well as mainstream and alternative journalism, police records, and government documents, in order to reveal overlooked dimensions of artistic, social, and political resistance to authoritarian rule.

Associated Products

Contracultura: Alternative Arts and Social Transformation in Authoritarian Brazil (Book)
Title: Contracultura: Alternative Arts and Social Transformation in Authoritarian Brazil
Author: Christopher Dunn
Abstract: Christopher Dunn’s study focuses on the inventive cultural production and intense social transformations that emerged in Brazil during the rule of an iron-fisted military regime during the sixties and seventies. The Brazilian contracultura was a complex and multifaceted phenomenon that developed alongside the ascent of hardline forces within the regime in the late 1960s. Focusing on urban, middle-class Brazilians often inspired by the international counterculture that flourished in the United States and parts of western Europe, Dunn shows how new discourses around race, gender, sexuality, and citizenship erupted under even the most oppressive political conditions. Dunn reveals previously ignored connections between the counterculture and Brazilian music, literature, film, visual arts, and alternative journalism. In chronicling desbunde, the Brazilian hippie movement, he shows how the state of Bahia, renowned for its Afro-Brazilian culture, emerged as a countercultural mecca for youth in search of spiritual alternatives. As this critical and expansive work demonstrates, many of the country’s social and justice movements have their origins in the countercultural attitudes, practices, and sensibilities that flourished during the military dictatorship.
Year: 2016
Primary URL: http://uncpress.unc.edu/browse/book_detail?title_id=3776
Access Model: University Press book in print and kindle editions
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9781469628516
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

Prizes

Roberto Reis Book Prize
Date: 3/1/2018
Organization: Brazilian Studies Association
Abstract: The Roberto Reis BRASA Book Award recognizes the two best books in Brazilian Studies published in English that contribute significantly to promoting an understanding of Brazil. The award honors Roberto Reis, one of the founders of BRASA, who was committed to developing Brazilian Studies in the United States. The two best books will receive US$200 awards each. The honorable mention, if granted, shall receive a certificate.

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